A study of the diffusion of an educational innovation: Formative evaluation of the WebTech professional development program using the Concerns -Based Adoption Model

Research indicates that computer technology is reaching most classrooms in the United States, but it is not being used effectively in instruction. The purpose of this study was to design and to implement a formative evaluation of a technology professional development program that could help focus on teachers' needs during training and their diffusion of the training into classroom instruction. The Concerns-Based Adoption Model provided the tools used for the evaluation. The WebTech professional development program, designed to train K--12 teachers to integrate Internet resources into classroom curricula, was the program evaluated. Twenty-six K--5 teachers took part in the initial offering of WebTech. Four questions guided the study to determine to what extent the WebTech training affected the participants' diffusion of Internet resources into their classroom instruction. These questions were addressed using the Innovation Configuration Checklist, Stages of Concern Questionnaire, Levels of Use interview format, and the WebTech Training Evaluation. A repeated measures multi-variate analysis of variance was used for statistical analyses of data from the Stages of Concern Questionnaire and the WebTech Training Evaluation. Simple frequencies and percentages were used for analyses of data from the Innovation Configuration Checklist and Levels of Use instruments. The results of the study indicated that the WebTech participants implemented higher percentages of "ideal" variations of all six WebTech training components at the end of training than at the beginning. Classroom observations and interviews indicated that 88% of those observed were operating at Level III (Mechanical Level) and 12% at Level IVA (Routine Level) by the end of training. This is above the 60% to 70% average at Level III of first-year users of a new innovation. This study's formative evaluation provided data for WebTech's trainers to better understand their participants' needs and to record participants' use of the technology training components. Information about the use of technology in classrooms can help bridge the gap that exists between technology's presence in classrooms and the assessment of its impact on students. Technology's impact on students cannot validly be assessed until it is determined if and how teachers are making use of technology in classroom instruction.